Even though the holidays are long gone, I'm still indulging in one of my favorite seasonal activities: sitting by the wood stove with a big pile of new cookbooks to read through. Joy. And there's one that continuously captures my attention: Sean Brock's hot-off-the-press new cookbook, Heritage. And lucky you, Artisan Publishing is giving away a copy to a Kitchen Vignettes reader (Canadian residents only are eligible for this one), so be sure to enter the giveaway below!
My guy and I developed a huge foodie crush on Sean Brock this fall, when we became obsessed with the PBS show The Mind of A Chef. At the top of our resolution list is a trip to one his celebrated restaurants in Charston or Nashville. As growers of heirloom grains (aka, major seed nerds), we love this man's commitment to sourcing regional, traditional ingredients, many of which have almost gone extinct in the race for big monoculture crops that simply yield, yield, yield. This excerpt from Mind of A Chef shows Sean preparing a dreamy Farro Verde Succotash. It makes me yearn for summer.
This cookbook probably has the best cover of all time. The tattoos, the beans, the colors, I mean, you don't even need to open the book and you've already had a visual feast. But lift the cover and you're swept away to a land of pure elegance and inspiration, a place where practical recipes for Skillet Roasted Chicken or Corn Grits live side by side with more elaborate ones such as Stone Crab with Cucumber Juice, Fennel Jelly, and Raw Apple or Rabbit Andouille with Braised Peppers and Lady Pea Gravy. Every photo inspires me to get more creative about food presentation and even in this old farmhouse, to give some of these fancy chef plating tricks a try, for the fun of it.
The first thing I made from the book was the Farrotto with Acorn Squash and Kale (because yes, we STILL have kale standing strong out there), a perfect winter dish, warm, filling, and deeply flavourful. Next up on my list are the Einkorn Biscuits, the Brown Oyster Stew with Benne, and the Tomato Jam. As a Canadian, I didn't know a whole lot about Southern cuisine. This book is a perfect introduction and I love how Sean walks you through the step by step process of "How to cook grits like a Southerner" and "How to build a pit and cook a whole pig like a champion pitmaster". I'll warn you, some of the recipes in the book do look complicated and some of the ingredients are hard to come by, but the spirit of this book is to inspire and challenge us all to try new things, to learn the value of sourcing local ingredients, to get in touch with our own heritage and learn to adapt recipes to our own regions, based on what is available in our part of the world. After all, even before you get all the pots and pans out, the heart of a recipe begins with finding the best ingredients one can possibly find.
I will announce the winner of the cookbook this weekend! Bonne chance! (This giveaway can only ship within Canada, but I promise some exciting giveaways for you non-Canadians later in the year!)
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Up until recently, any amaranth that entered my kitchen was destined to a lifetime of sitting at the back of a dark cupboard, where aside from the occasional tentative glance, it remained untouched and unused. Usually, enough years would go by that I would finally be forced to dump it in the compost, hoping the earthworms at least would enjoy it. Then I would see it again in the health food store, all fresh and minuscule and promising, so I'd buy a little bag (just a little bag), vowing to make friends with it and create something tasty this time, and the same cycle would start over. I did, along the way, manage a few gluey porridge experiments, but these left me unenthused and even more baffled by the tiny grain. Amaranth porridge is ok, but I infinitely prefer making a bowl of creamy teff porridge, or sticking to plain old wonderful oatmeal.
But a couple years ago, I pulled a neglected bag of amaranth out from the back of my cupboard, determined to give it another chance. The cooking instructions for amaranth generally call for a 3 to 1 ratio of water to grain, which yields the gooey porridge I refer to above. I decided to reduce the water significantly in an attempt to achieve a fluffy cooked grain, and suddenly, amaranth and I were making some headway. Cooked in a 1 to 1 ratio, and only to 'al dente', followed by a resting period under cover at the end of cooking, the grains were beautiful. Not heavy and gooey, but light and fluffy with a lovely chew that lends itself well to many recipes. And that's a good thing if one takes a look at their superstar nutrient profile!
Upon having this mini amaranth-epiphany, one of my first recipe experiments was to try the fritters recipe on the back of the Bob's Red Mill bag of amaranth. They were delicious! Over time, I adapted the recipe and arrived at an amaranth corn fritter that is packed with flavour and crunch and has become one of my favorite go-to lunches.
To get my amaranth corn fritters recipe, click here.
And please do leave me a comment below, sharing your own favorite ways to prepare amaranth!
Yes, it's (yet) another kale recipe from kale-landia! And if I may say so, this one makes a scrumptious Christmas morning breakfast. Just saying.
My love of French food has been spilling over into the realm of French cookware lately and I was so excited to put my new Mauviel baking dish to use in this recipe video. The impeccable craftsmanship of their made-in-France cookware makes this copper baby my most prized kitchen possession.
Along with the pleasure of putting my new baking dish to use, this video was so much fun to put together because The Modern Grass kindly allowed me to use a tune from their exquisite Christmas album. Thank you, most lovely gentlemen!
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| www.themoderngrass.com |
And then there was the kale. Oh kale, how many times have I sung your praises. Those luscious and tender leaves are actually finally starting to show signs of waning out there, it's now been several weeks since I captured these vibrant blue-greens on camera.
But even now, when they're frozen solid under a dusting of snow, it's amazing how resilient those crumpled leaves are and how just a few minutes' thaw on the kitchen counter will bring them right back to a crunchy and perfectly respectable 'cooking-ready' state.
To tell you the truth, the weather's been rather grey over here, and so have the spirits, just a little. It always seems to go against everything that is expected to have moments of sadness and unease around Christmas time. And yet I think it happens to many of us. I guess Christmas just feels a bit unplanned, unprepared this year. And I'm riding that familiar wave of nostalgia for the Christmases of years gone by, when my mom and my grandmother were still alive. They both had a way of turning Christmas into such a magical time. But there are many things to feel grateful for. In a couple of days, I will get to hold my sweet beautiful nephew in my arms again. I can hardly wait. My stepdad will be back from his European travels, my sweetheart is driving up from Maine, and my sister and brother-in-law will close down their cafe for a few days and a much-needed holiday break. We'll hopefully manage to get a Christmas tree up and going, do a bit of baking, and enjoy some drinks by the fire and a festive visit with our neighbours. And really, what more could one possibly ask for?
So wherever you are for the holidays this year, I wish you warm moments with your loved ones, and many morsels of delicious things to feast on. A very merry Christmas-solstice-Hanukkah-holiday season to you all!
You can find my Kale and Sun-dried Tomato Strata over here on PBS Food.
